Guiding Careers to Greatness: An Insightful Conversation with Sarabjeet Sachar, a Transformational Leader in Career Coaching and Ex-Sr. VP ZEE TV Network
Sarabjeet’s coaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that
every professional has untapped potential waiting to be unlocked. At
Aspiration, he has redefined the standards of career coaching by combining
personal branding, strategic career guidance, and his extensive knowledge of
the job market. His commitment to helping others excel has driven him to
conduct over 10,000 interviews and guide 1,000+ professionals, making him an
invaluable resource in understanding what it takes to succeed in today’s dynamic
job market.
Recognized as a “Top 1% LinkedIn Voice in Career and
Leadership Development”, Sarabjeet's influence extends beyond his clients. He
is a sought-after speaker and a jury member for HR Excellence Awards, with his
insights shared across various platforms, including Republic TV, Business
World, and several HR podcasts.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Sarabjeet is
passionate about continuous learning, journaling, motivational speaking, and
fostering well-being through meditation and swimming. Known for his infectious
enthusiasm, he balances his deep expertise with a personal touch, making him
not only a mentor but a true partner in his clients’ success.
Join Dr Anand Wadadekar in this exclusive interview as
Sarabjeet shares his valuable insights on leadership, career growth, and the
art of navigating the complexities of today’s job landscape. Whether you’re an
emerging leader or a seasoned professional, Sarabjeet’s advice is sure to
inspire and guide you on your career journey.
1. Can you talk about your school life in terms of your studies, exams, scoring marks and extra-curricular activities? Can you tell about something which you did in school which is even today helping you as a person and a professional?
I come from a humble background and school life for me was
full of committed learning. I was and still am a diligent and persevering
student. My roots of persevering and working hard to look at things differently
were developed during my school days and continue to serve me well in life now.
There were some subjects like maths and physics where I would score well.
Public speaking was something I was passionate about, won awards and would look
for opportunities to speak and that that has held me in good stead even today.
After my graduation I was seeking a sales job because I love
to build relationships by asking good quality questions and adding value.
Importantly I always had this innate ability to look at the same thing
differently. Am grateful that I am gifted with good communication and
presentation skills.
However like many of us, my first career break to start in
sales was incidental. I was travelling in a local train in Mumbai along with a
friend and was enthusiastically talking to him about how am seeking a sales
job. Seated next to me was the Regional Sales Head of Carter Wallace
(manufacturers of Old Spice), a MNC pharma company who was listening to all
that I said. By the time we got down at Churchgate station, he offered me his
card and asked me to come for an interview on the same day and after clearing
multiple rounds , I was offered the job at a starting salary of Rs.2000/- pm as
a medical representative. Then after 2 years of working where I did extremely
well, I realised that one of my core
strengths was B2B sales which I enjoyed and service industry attracted me
because it involved researching a client’s needs and presenting solutions 1:1 .
Also, it required of one to have good presentation skills. So that is how my
break in the media industry with Times Of India happened in Advertising space
selling from where I continued to
progress and grow.
3. You've held several
leadership positions in sales. How do you approach leadership and team
management in the sales domain?
Leadership for me has meant to inspire teams by coaching them
to look at fresh perspectives, find unique solutions and building them up by
making them the hero. I am grateful to God that I have innate qualities like
patience, perseverance, learnability and a strong belief that every
professional can be the best version of themselves when they look at things
differently. My ability to adapt and remain flexible have stood me in good
stead.
So I have been able to build strong teams in sales by
grooming them with my coaching, participative style and creating a system and
process driven work place. While offering measurable goals I work upon, I
believe that we are in an infinite game, so my focus has always been what I
follow – CANI – Constant And Never Ending Improvement. So I train my teams to
constantly keep improving what they do and that is what keeps them challenged
as well as motivated. So while goals are serving us as milestones which are
important for our progress assessment, the focus needs to be on a long term
vision and constant progress.
4. You’ve seen the
sales industry evolve over the years. What are some of the biggest changes
you've noticed?
Sales has become skewed towards consultative sales. The
consumers today are much more aware, discerning and because of social media have
been exposed to great choices. So they
are demanding and unless you have a strong value proposition which is linked to
your ‘why’ the sale remains transactional in nature. So unless you as a sales
person have a clearly defined ‘why’ you do what you do and then follow ‘what’
you do and ‘how’ you do, success is difficult to achieve. People are ready to
pay a premium provided they see a value proposition.
5. In 2002, you took the entrepreneurial leap and founded ‘Aspiration’. What motivated you to make that transition, and how did you overcome the initial challenges?
Yes, it was decision that I took to become an entrepreneur at
the age of 38 when I was at the peak of my career as Senior Vice President,
National Sales for the entire network at ZEE TV network. I had this inner
desire like many may have of building a brand which I could call my own. And
being a patient kind of personality who believes in an infinite game and the
backing of my wife, I took the decision to start Aspiration which we launched
as a recruitment and executive search agency for the Media and Entertainment
industry. There was a gap for talent in the industry.
My belief and ability to see the same thing differently
really was and is my strength even today gave me fundamentally clarity and the courage to
take the decision during this transition into entrepreneurship. And I used this
strength of mine by offering unique benefits to our clients which focused on
quality rather than quantity with respect to offering talent. The initial days
were tough however my belief in delivering quality, my perseverance and I a
strong belief that GOD has a plan for
each one of us saw us through. In 22 years of Aspiration’s business I can now
clearly see the reasons for which I started it and it is my son who is carrying
the legacy forward. And for the past 6
years, I focus on what I enjoy most – adding value to people’s career through
my Career Development and Leadership Coaching.
6. You’ve conducted
over 10,000 interviews and coached countless professionals. What are some
common traits you see in people who succeed in their careers?
All professionals who I coached and with whom have otherwise
interacted and have succeeded, have the following common traits:
-Courage
-Resilience
-Ability to show up every day
-Ability to inspire others
-Are a student with a huge curiosity
-Visionary (play the infinite game)
7. With careers landscape for people changing rapidly, be it technology or services sector, what advice would you give to young professionals as well as senior professionals?
The ability to handle uncertainty and adapting yourself to
the everchanging career landscape by constantly learning and upgrading
themselves are going to remain key requirements.
For youngsters my advice would be that while it is important
to get exposed to different areas of work and make planned shift of jobs,
frequent job shifts are going to harm your career. Because to be able to get
the depth and richness of experience, one needs to spend quality time for at
least 2-3 years in one job rather than shifting jobs say within a 6 months to a
year. Importantly younger professionals may be good in their core domain knowledge
and expertise but they need to focus on human skills liked adaptability,
collaborative working, team work and leadership where I find there exists a gap
in today’s college education syllabus.
For senior professionals traits are learnability and curiosity are key for making progress. The technological advances being made are so rapid and one needs to be updated on the basics at least. Many senior professionals have not been able to focus on learning about technology and related systems because of their own traditional mindset and that needs to evolve. Being able to adapt and work with younger teams and learn from them is another area one needs to be develop as a senior professional.
8. With re-skilling
being the vital aspect to sustain in careers, what advice will you give to
people so that they can tackle this challenge?
I cannot emphasise this aspect much. Change being the only
constant one of the things is reading good books about their areas of interest-
if it is on leadership or aspects of leadership or if it is about communication
skills, today we have a great choice of books that delve deeper on specific
areas. And learning which is in our own hands when pursued by reading a book or taking up
an online course, it makes us feel powerful. The other thing is to challenge
ourselves and expand our experience by taking up freelance projects (pro-bono)
to learn new skills in the areas of interest and which align with your career
goal.
9. You emphasize
personal branding in your coaching. What advice would you give to professionals
looking to build their personal brand?
Being authentic is important. Each one of us are gifted with
unique talents and we need to accept and feel proud about ourselves.
A thing to remember while developing your personal brand is
to focus on your ‘why’. Why do you do
what you are good at. Because people connect with you better when they know
what you believe in. Simply communicating what you do will not have so much of
an impact as compared to when you tell people about your ‘why’.
The other step that is helpful is to do a SWOT analysis and
identifying your strengths and weaknesses (both hard skills as well as
personality traits) and depending upon your career goal, make an action plan of
how to hone them. And it is good to remember that a personal brand is not
something static, it is ever evolving so keep reviewing your personal brand
status once a year and tweak it according to your objectives.
10. Being a father,
spouse, how has been your daily routine and how do you manage it in terms of
family time and personal time? What advice do you give your children about life, career and success?
I am a family man. And relationships and bonding are very important
for me. So I do make it a point to consciously include this aspect in my daily planning. My family and I love to
watch movies, plays and travel together.
My son and I love to swim and give each other company. After 7 pm I do not
prefer working generally speaking and spend time with my family. Dinners are
always together for us as a family. We are all lovers of good books and we have
almost a library at home.
To our children we have given them values of simple living
and simple thinking. My wife and I always gave the complete freedom and a safe
environment to our children to pursue their passion as careers. My advise has
been to look at life’s challenges as opportunities to evolve and grow and keep
developing your mindset to look at the seed of an equivalent benefit in every
adversity and importantly be grateful for what we have.
(C) Anand Wadadekar
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